More Than 80 School Districts Expected at UTEP Teacher Job Fair

By Daniel Perez

UTEP Communications

Anthony Dieguez has his mind on the past with an eye toward the future, and both will serve him during the College of Education’s Spring 2016 Teacher Job Fair from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, April 15, 2016, at The University of Texas at El Paso’s Don Haskins Center.

Dieguez, a senior history major with a minor in secondary education, said he looks forward to meeting with many of the 80 representatives from school districts in Texas, Kansas, New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado. This annual event – the biggest of the year in terms of participants and districts – is open to UTEP’s student teachers, recent graduates and members of the community who have a teaching credential.

“I want to be a teacher,” said the student who is a sergeant in the Army Reserves 383^rd Quartermaster Battalion. “I have no qualms about moving around the state or to another state. I will go where the work is.”

The El Paso native is finishing his student teaching at Montwood High School on El Paso’s East Side. He said he hopes to find a job where he can continue to share his love of history, especially world history, with students.

“I think teaching is a natural fit for me,” said Dieguez, a 2009 Chapin High School graduate. “I like relating history to students in a way they can appreciate it.”

The event is a popular stop for districts, especially those that cater to bilingual and bicultural student populations, said Cyndi Giorgis, Ph.D., dean of the College of Education. The college organized the teacher fair.

“This teacher job fair provides students an opportunity to meet personally with school district representatives who will be ready to conduct interviews and possibly offer initial contracts,” said Giorgis, who advises participants to bring plenty of copies of their updated resumes and to dress professionally. “It is a great opportunity for our students and graduates.”

Naomi Lopez, manager of talent at University Prep, a K-5 tuition-free public charter school that is part of the Denver (Colorado) Public Schools, said she plans to attend the job fair to fill teaching posts for a new campus.

Lopez said University Prep opened in 2011 and has an enrollment of 360, about half of whom are Hispanic. A second campus with 280 student slots will open in August 2016. The student profile at the new property is expected to be 97 percent Hispanic, of which 78 percent will be English Language Learners.

The elementary school official said her institution wants highly prepared bilingual teachers who are eager, smart, humble and who want to have a positive impact on students. Lopez said last year’s first visit to UTEP’s Teacher Job Fair introduced her school to the high level of talented student teachers with the right skillset. Her institution, which would prefer its faculty to be proficient in Spanish, wants to build a strong pipeline of UTEP alumni who will teach and lead in Denver.

“We met a lot of people (at UTEP) who were excited about teaching,” Lopez said.

The job fair will be broken into morning and afternoon sessions. Employers will take a lunch break from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Organizers ask that participants park in the R-3 (green) remote lot north of the Don Haskins Center.

Information: Susana Aguirre at 915-747-5783 or saguirre2@utep.edu

 

SPRING 2016 TEACHER JOB FAIR PARTICIPANT DISTRICTS